Knowing Sherlock
by GoodNightAlaska
Summary: When Mali Evans moved into 221C Baker Street, she wasn't expecting to hear a gun go off at 2 in the morning most nights but as she gets closer to the two men upstairs, does she really mind? or can she feel something for Sherlock that isn't just annoyance or hate? And can be begin the feel something for her, something that he's never felt before.
1. You were wrong

Mali had always been the quiet girl at school and university. Got on with her lessons, got good grades, never made a fuss over who was sleeping with who or who was in a fight with each other. She had never even been in a real argument so it had stuck her as strange when the two men in the flat upstairs had asked her if she minded hearing gun shots in the middle of the night and she was since regretting saying no. In fact she did mind but was in no position to turn away from the deal she was offered for the flat at 221C baker street. Mali often wished she was one of those people who needed only 4 hours sleep a night but unless she wanted to risk being grouchy and in a bad mood with everyone the next day, she knew she at least had to have 8 hours.

They were as odd and unlikely looking pair, the two men from upstairs. One tall dark and mysterious looking, taller than her she noticed, with quite possibly the most defined cheekbones she'd ever seen. He had dark curly hair that despite seeming untameable, fell perfectly around his head and across his forehead whereas the other man, John, was much shorter with dark blond hair that was much shorter and rather scruffy yet he very dressed very neatly as if it were a crime to wear a t shirt and shorts during summer.

Mali had only been in baker street for a week when she found herself in a constant bad mood and decided that the next time she heard that wretched gun, she would storm up those stairs and chuck it out the freaking window. But there was one problem; she was awfully terrified of confrontation and especially with people that she knew could probably pick her up with one hand and throw her on the floor. Nevertheless, she didn't have to wait long to get over that fear. The next night at 2am Mali had finally had enough._ Did he ever sleep?_

'BORED' Sherlock shouted firing his fifth bullet into the wall at 221B baker street. He had tried to stop firing the gun at the wall when the new girl had moved into the flat downstairs but then remembered that he had never stopped for anyone else, not even Mrs Hudson after one of her lectures, so why should he stop for her. But on this particular night, he knew he was going to have some trouble with her.

When she had sat in their flat that day and John had asked if she minded being woken up in the middle of the night to the sound and smell of gun and gunpowder, she was hesitant but eventually said no. He knew she had been lying by the way she diverted her eyes from his and by the way her facial features had sunk. She had thought she'd found the perfect flat for such a good price but was evidently disappointed by this announcement.

'COULD YOU PLEASE STOP FIRING THAT BLOODY GUN EVERY BLOODY NIGHT' Mali screamed entering 221B without even thinking to knock. Sherlock knew she must've been really angry to actually confront him. He had deduced from the minute he met her that she hated confrontation. That much was obvious by the way she fiddled with her bag, diverted her eyes and stuttered when asked any question. _Really freaking angry_ he thought.

'I thought you hated confrontation' he said blankly to her, avoiding her question and playing a little game.

'what?' she shyed away with a confused expression on her face. She'd only ever spoken to him once before and she'd certainly not mentioned it _how could he have known_

'oh please!' he laughed 'it's really quite obvious'

'how did you know?' she asked retuning to her normal timid self.

' The same way I know that you're a novelist who recently got dropped by her agent, probably for not writing enough, I know that you were recently engaged, and for quite a while it apparently seems and spent a lot of that time abroad, probably somewhere much hotter than this. But i know that it ended less than 3 months ago. I know that he was the one who broke it off not you, leaving you in a state of complete ruin making you stressed which later lead on to quite a bad illness which is probably what lead to the lack of writing and the consequent lack of agent. I know you have family but not close family and family that certainly do not live in London and I know that you thought that by moving here you would get no trouble but I can assure you, Miss Evans, that that is a very incorrect assumption.

Mali stared at him blankly trying to hold back the tears, gripping onto the door handle. He was right on all accounts but one. But how could he have possible known. She didn't care to find out._ Marcus_ she thought. A name nobody had dared to mention to her for the last two months. As her emotions finally got too much and the tears started to roll, she ran back out the door and down to her flat not even daring to look up at that monster.

'For gods sake Sherlock' John moaned getting up, clearly woken by the noise other than gunshots in the middle of the night. 'that was a bit harsh don't you think?'

'No.'

John glared at him.

'What? She was the one who stormed in here shouting at me'

'Shes also the one who apparently got dumped less that three months ago, has been dropped by her agent and has been in a state of complete ruin. Do you really think she needed you showing off and bringing it all back? Guaranteed we'll be the ones awake for the next for night hearing the crying. Now, are you going to apologise?''

'Oh John. Your mind. So simple. Why should I apologise for something I said that was completely and utterly true'

'Apologise.' This was no longer a question. The military man had come out and it was a command. John was not going to negotiate on this matter.

Mali shuffled her face over to the other side and reached her arm out to grab her phone off the bedside cabinet like she always did. She never had any messages but it was force of habit from when she used to receive one cute messages each morning from Marcus. _Marcus_ Mali sighed as last night came flooding back to her. It took her eyes a while to adjust to the glaring light. Even longer than normal seeing as her eyes were still sore and blotchy from crying herself to sleep.

One new message._odd_ she thought. She clicked it open.

**Sorry**

**-SH**

Normally it would've surprised her how someone had got her number without her giving it out but after he demonstrated what he knew last night, she wasn't surprised. He actually seemed like a bit if a stalker.

_Clearly not a sincere apology._ she imagined. He'd been so cold. So Bitter. It made Mali wander if something had happened to him to make him be that way. The apology would have to suffice. It would do. Mali didn't want to argue with her new neighbour and despite hating his guts, she couldn't take the stress. She was only just beginning to get better from depression that had struck her. Starting to rebuild her life.

**Its fine but you were wrong you know** she couldn't help mentioning.

**wrong?**

**-SH**

Mali was in the process of typing a witty reply when she heard a loud knocking at her door. She checked her clock. 7:34am. Who the hell was knocking in her door at this time? She had moved to London to avoid having to speak to anyone. She shuffled out of bed grumbling about this and that, searching for a hoody to pull on over her pyjama top, nearly hitting the basement flat roof with her arms. She wondered why she hadn't taken up a career in netball. All 5'11 of her._ Much more exiting than writing books for a living._ All the while the knocking continued at the door.

'ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! IM COMING' she shouted out in response to the knocking. She managed to take a glance in the mirror on her way to the door; she looked like hell. Big bags under her eyes, no doubt who's fault that was. Her long blond hair like a birds nest dangling down in front of her face and her eyes, a darker brown than usual. She wandered if it was the stress. Despite not looking amazing, Mali couldn't have cared less, whoever was at the door would just have to cope.

_ What could she_ _possibly be doing that taking so damn long!_ Sherlock's mind was wondering all over the place. Wrong? How could he possibly have been wrong? He rarely ever heard the word. He was just about to embark of his 6th round on knocking when the door flung open.

Sherlock bent down and stared intently into Mali eyes. Flicking from one eye to the other. _wrong. Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong_ she must've been lying to get back at him, but as he stared, all he could see was honestly.

Mali drew back slightly, confused, alarmed at how close the bitter man was standing. She couldn't help but notice though, how beautiful his eyes were. A mix of different shades. Like looking deep into and ocean, they seamed to change from blue to green and back again. If a distant galaxy was condensed down and turned into a ball, this is what she imagined it would look like.

' I wasn't wrong. You're lying. It's the only explanation' Sherlock claimed pulling away and standing up straight. He was so sure of himself.

Mali knew he wasn't going to leave so decided to get it over and done with. She walked back into her tiny kitchen, put the kettle on, knowing Sherlock would follow her and pulled out a chair.

'You were right about most things Mr Holmes in fact, right on all accounts ex-'

'I knew it! You WERE lying' he exclaimed like and exciting child

'except one'

'oh please, don't flatter yourself you're just trying to hide your embarrassment after lying'Sherlock said, full of spite.

'go on then, if you think you've got me figured out, tell me about myself.'

Sherlock let out a sigh before delving into revealing his deductions.

'When you first moved in you had a lot of furniture. And expensive furniture at that. You never seem to go out to work so that lead me to believe that you are currently working from home. If you were unemployed you'd be out everyday searching for a job, I then realized that if you were downsizing which you evidently were, due to the amount and expense of items that you own, you used to make a lot of money but you aren't making as much now. So what job could you have, possibly an architect? seeing as you use your laptop a lot but then architects never make much money in the first place and as to why you'd be downsizing? No it doesn't fit, so novelist, working from home, use your laptop a lot it fits. Plus the fact that when you moved in you were carrying a book with your name written on the front cover. So now, a clearly known, well payed author deciding to down size, obviously just been dropped by your agent and as to why; you had obviously been engaged, I can tell that much from your engagement ring, but you've moved it to another finger, could be a normal ring but no, there is a clear mark where it was placed on your other finger, a tan line, so spent some time abroad, somewhere hot, you evidently didn't get a tan like that from living in England, you still have a slight tan so that would suggest you haven't been back for all that long, 3 months. But why have you moved it? You obviously broke up. If you'd left him you would've gotten rid of it, no, he left you but you can't quite bring yourself to get rid of it. 3 months; time to move on don't you think. So well known author downsizing after just splitting up with your fiancée, must have had a bad effect on you so you stopped writing, your awfully thin so evidently just recovering from depression and sickness you clearly couldn't keep up with the writing so your agent got rid of you. Now novelist in trouble and just come out of a long term relationship your not going to your family for comfort? Says you're not close to them and if they lived in London they'd be visiting you to see your new flat. No visitors in the past week so obviously not close. I then mentioned that you thought that by moving here you thought you'd get away from trouble. That much was obvious, you seemed very positive about the flat when we first met but when John mentioned the gun shots your face sank, clearly not as perfect as you thought but you couldn't afford to look anywhere else on your low running budget.

There see I have it all figured out, I wasn't wrong you're lying.'

'You said I hated confrontation' Mali whispered, absolutely astounded at what had just happened.

'Well obviously! Whenever John or I asked you a question, you'd fiddle with your bag, avoid eye contact and stutter, evident you weren't comfortable, probably started hating confrontations after he had left you, didn't like the sympat-'

Mali leaned to grab the book in front of her a threw it right in Sherlock's face. She didn't care If it had hurt him, he was breaking her heart all over again.

'As I said Mr Holmes, right on all accounts, except one. He didn't leave me, he died. The sun tan; Africa. Died of Malaria after a week of being back here now, please, get the fuck out of my flat.'

Sherlock felt a whist of air ruffle through his curly hair as the door to 221C slammed right in front of his face.

Sherlock took two seconds to wonder why she had cared so much. *i mean, it happened three months ago, why would she still be upset* he asked himself but then remembered that not all human emotions where quite as laid back as his and Mycroft's, who thinking of which, would soon make his offer of spying on Sherlock for money to Mali. And Sherlock wondered if she might just take up his offer.

_Eek hi guys, sorry of its not that good, first fanfic, please review -Mais xo_


	2. Something about her

The sun had not long risen but warm summer breeze drifted in through the windows of 221B baker street. John was sat in his favourite chair with a paper sprawled between his hands. He peered over the top at Sherlock as he re entered their flat that morning and couldn't help but notice the frown splashed across his forehead and the bright red mark along his cheekbone. 'Went well I take it then.' John said smugly, putting down his paper. If this was Mali, he already had much respect for her. _It_ _was about time someone hit him_

'So, what did she do? Slap you?'John stifled back a laugh.

'No. She threw a book at me'

'A book?' John couldn't help but smile.

'Yes John, a book, did you not hear me?' Sherlock spat out before slamming his bedroom door.

_He's a lost cause _If Sherlock had been right and she hated confrontation then it wouldn't take another Sherlock Holmes to realise how angry she must have been. John sighed, put down his paper and decided to go and apologise himself for his flat mates behaviour. It would also give him the chance to talk to someone normal for a while. He was getting tired of Sherlock's incessant silence and concentration on work, Mycroft's insistence on getting him to spy on Sherlock and Mrs Hudson's constant lectures about what they were doing to her flat.

When it came to getting dressed, John was more fussy than the girls on reality tv. It took him 15 minutes to choose the right jumper to go with the trousers and an extra 5 to pick a shirt to go with that. Finally after half an hour, John was looking a lot more respectable than he would have had turned up at Mali's in his dressing gown.

'Where are you going?' Sherlock called as John was about to leave.

'ooh let me think, maybe to apologise for your appalling behaviour toward Mali this morning. I don't even know what you said but it must've been bad for her to throw a book at you.' John said and Sherlock could tell there was spite behind what he was saying. _always the one to jump to the girls defence_

'For gods sake John, she's fine! In fact, she took great pleasure in hitting me, maybe she should be the one apologising' Sherlock spat out. _There was going to be a long going hatred between these two. _John thought before leaving the flat.

Mali had been sat at her far-to-large-for-her-knew-flat kitchen table staring at the slightly mesmerising patterns since she had shoved Sherlock out of the door. She _did_ feel bad for hitting Sherlock so hard but If she could pick out any positive things about living at 221C it was that she'd certainly got over her fear of confrontation. Yet she felt something else, relief, like a great weight that had been hung over her for so long she couldn't remember had been lifted off her shoulders but she couldn't tell what.

It was not yet 8:30 when another knock at her front door awoke her from her trance. Only this time, the knocks were less urgent. Mali didn't want to talk but figured that the knocking wouldn't stop of she didn't answer. She reluctantly got up, still in her pyjamas, to tell who ever it was to piss off.

'John!' Mali was startled as she looked down at the short man standing at her door. He looked smart, a bit too smart seeing as she was still in pyjamas.

John instantly regretted dressing up. He looked down and thought now that his dressing gown would have sufficed. His head flicked back to look up at her.

Mali had always been taller than most people. It had made it very difficult to get a boyfriend at school. As she now looked down at John she realised how little hope she had left of ever finding somebody else who would like her for who she was.

'Can I come in?' John asked uncomfortably as Mali realised she was staring at him. She must've looked pretty terrifying leaning over him like that, especially looking the way she did. She kind of wished Sherlock wasn't to tall and so could've had the upper hand on him as well.

'Sorry, yes of course, kitchen is through here' Mali let down the scary pretence and showed him in too offered him a wicker chair.

'Look' Mali sighed after putting on the kettle and tying up her hair so she looked a little bit more decent, 'if you've come to shout at me for throwing a book at your boyfriend. He deserved it ok?!'

'I was actually going t- um he's NOT my boyfriend' John chocked out.

'oh' Mali's face relaxed 'Well you guys live together.. So.. You know..'

John gave a nervous laugh, he'd always been slightly awkward around women but that had never stopped him.

'For one i'm single and two, I am certainly not gay' John cleared.

'Oh I'm so sorry, I just.. Assumed' Mali apologised, 'so why are you here?' she couldn't help but question.

'I actually came to tell you that I don't blame you for throwing a book at Sherlock. I sometimes wish I had the courage to punch him in the face' John stated.

Mali let out a sigh of relief. _so other people feel the way I do._

'He once told my girlfriend I was having a fling with another woman just so she'd dump me because he didn't like her, fair to say that relationship didn't last that long' John revealed and Mali couldn't help but be relieved that she wasn't the only one to suffer at his hand.

The pair of them sat in the small, lowly lit kitchen for a while longer, laughing and joking at the expense of Sherlock, but nobody could blame them. After all, as John had said; 'he was an annoying dick.' Mali had been horrified when John had said that Sherlock kept human body parts in the fridge where they kept food. She had never been the most squeamish of people but till, a severed head where there was food!

John and Mali got on like a house in fire, it was if they'd known each other since childhood. She sat and listened carefully when John had described what they did for a living _consulting detective _shed never heard that one before. And when she had found out about john former military career it all clicked into place why he had dressed to smart and stood up so straight. It was nice for Mali, she hadn't made any knew friends for a long time and had stayed in touch with only two friends since she moved away. Their new formed friendship seemed to relax Mali and whilst chatting away she had figured out what the great weight that had been lifted was, and she couldn't help but feel a little bit great full. John had been much kinder to her than Sherlock but nobody except Sherlock had had the courage to be so brutally honest to her since it had happened and it _was _time for her to move on.

Sherlock lay on his bed, curtains drawn light off, flicking through the rooms in his mind palace, endlessly searching. Mali had sparked something inside him but he couldn't figure out what. Probably hate. Yet it didn't feel like that. Oh he knew what hate felt like, that thick, angry feeling that ran through his whole body whenever he came even close to Anderson. He hated Anderson so much he had tried to eliminate him from his head like he had done with the Solar System, much to Johns dismay. Sherlock had even managed to delete Anderson's first name which was definitely one of his proudest and greatest achievements in his mind. John would disagree, he thought everything Sherlock did was fantastic and seemed to express that thought in every possible language whenever he made the simplest of deductions. John practically worshiped him. The thought of that made Sherlock smile but pity him at the same time.

Sherlock knew everyone and everything so why _why _couldn't he figure out what it the stupid feeling was.

_ Hey I know this chapter is short, the next few will be but they do get longer! Also I'll try to update on a regular basis:) -Mais x_


	3. who is he

It had been a week since Mali had thrown a book a Sherlock and she hadn't since

heard a wink from him. She wondered if he was the type to sulk for days on end. She originally had rejected that idea seeing as that was normally child's play and he was a fully grown man but then again, after remembering all that John had told her, she wouldn't have been surprised. She couldn't help but feel a tiny but guilty _it was quite a hard book_ nevertheless, it had done the trick because she hadn't yet heard the gun firing in the middle of the night. Still, if he was sulking, Mali thought it was time to apologise. Most would've thought that Sherlock should be the one to apologise first but Mali had always at least attempted to be polite and if she had ever hurt anyone in the past she would've felt guilty beyond belief and would always try to make her peace. She _hated_ argument.

The apology would have to wait until later.

The morning was hot and the sun had long risen. Mali pulled on one her one grey knee length skirt, white blouse and blue blazer before leaving the flat. It was times like these when Mali wished she wasn't so tall and then she be able to pull off wearing a pair of classy high heels. Instead she shoved her feet into her too small pumps and scraped her hair back into a neat bun before slamming the door. She had hoped that she'd be able to cope with such a low budget but the truth was, she was far to used to the luxurious life of a well payed novelist. No, time to get another job.

As she slalomed her way down the hustle on baker street Mali felt horrible. She really disliked dressing so formally;she felt so restricted. It was so different from her normal summery knee length dresses or leggings and a t shirt for winter.

Mali hadn't had what her mother would call a 'proper' job since she was 16 when she worked as a waitress at one of the highly rated local restaurants down in the countryside. Mali missed the hot summers she had spent out in the countryside fields playing football, going horse riding, running around with her siblings and the long evenings she would spent sitting out at the end of their garden beneath the arch way covered in roses listening to slow but happy music or reading her favourite books. Those day had been the best days of her life but oh how times had changed in the last 10 years. When Mali had moved to the city when she was 18 to go to uni she had had to give up her sports and waitressing and had started up writing as a hobby. She had originally tried a job at waitressing in London but the customers were so rude and it was far from the luxury job she'd had out the in country hotel/restaurant. Becoming a writer had meant that Mali hardly spent any time outdoors doing what she loved as she had to juggle writing and going to lectures but seeing as she had no one to play football with anymore, it wasn't as hard as she had imagined. She often dreamt of going back to the country but the truth was, and she hated to admit it, but the city was just so much more convenient.

4 hours of searching later and it seemed like every cafe, every bookshop, every pub and even every newsagents within London was getting on just fine without an unemployed novelist. _i knew you shouldn't have studied English. Maths or science would've been so much better_ Mali couldn't help but think. Her life was going down hill. One thing after another just to bring her down and down, further than she thought she could ever have gone. Life had been so great just 4 months ago yet in those months since, it had just seemed like everything and everyone was against her and was purposely making her life as difficult as possible.

After yet another hour of hopeless searching and Mali was as low as it could get. She had seriously considered just ending it then. Nobody would care, her family had already given up hope on her and it's not like she had any friends who relied on her. The closest thing she had to a friend was John and they'd only spoken twice. She thought about the newspaper headlines 'Girl accidentally falls in front of tram' or 'Girl falls to a tragic death' and she would've done it. She would have done if it hadn't been such a beautiful day. And at that it was her favourite time of day as well. The time that was not quite afternoon but not yet evening. A time when all the colours in the sky we're merging from blue to orange to pink and no matter how down hearted Mali could possibly have been, she still couldn't fail to the the beauty within the world.

It was at this time when Mali was sat, sunken with her head in her hands when a sleek black Mercedes pulled up beside her and a mysterious looking man dressed in what she thought must have been an extremely expensive suit got out the passenger door. Mali propped her head up, she'd always been suspicious of mysterious men in dark cars ever since she was a child and had heard rumours of child snatchers. However this man didn't seem the type. Too short. Too well dressed. To neat. And besides, she was a fully grown woman nevertheless she clutched onto the can on hairspray she kept in her bag just incase.

'Heard you were looked for a job, Miss Evans' stated the short, sinister looking man, leaning back at ease against the car.

'H-how do you know my name? Who are you?' Mali instinctively grasped the canister a bit harder and shrunk back a bit.

'Really not your best line of inquiry now please Miss Evans, if you would kindly step into the car' said the man gesturing towards the back door. 'My employer would *love* to speak to you' Mali couldn't help but notice, for a suspected child (or adult it seemed) snatcher, he certainly had good manners.

_what do I have to lose_ she asked herself loosening the clutch on her hairspray, and the answer to that was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

'Could you at least tell me where I'm going?' inquired Mali as she stepped into the gleaming black Mercedes.

'I'm afraid not.._Mali_ isn't it? Yes, Mali, but thank you for cooperating, it would've made for a very unattractive course had you not' came the reply from the front seat.

/

Sherlock lay on his sofa, hands pressed together underneath his chin. Anyone would've thought he was praying had they not known better. And if they had, they would never even dare to mention prayer after hearing Sherlock's views of religion, most of which just consisted of insulting anyone who could believe in such...tosh 'John!' He called, with no success. _for goodness sake._ Where was he this time. Probably gone to see Mali. Sherlock shot up, a rush of blood going to his head making him feel slightly dizzy. His eyes fluttered and his curls fell down onto his forehead.

Still, this didn't faze him as he rushed down the stairs to the basement flat and pattered on the door. 'John! Mali!' ah where _were_ they. Mali had lived there two weeks and hardly ever left her flat. And as for John. He never said where he was going, either that or Sherlock hadn't listened.

'Sherlock! I'm going out to meet Sarah!' John called from the living room before slamming the door shut. Sherlock never replied, John sometimes wondered if Sherlock was optionally deaf to things he didn't want to hear.

/

Mali's heart rate and breathing began to quicken, she was having a panic attack_ a panic attack_ why! _why_ had she agreed to get in this wretched car. Was she trying to prove a point to herself? To anyone? That she didn't care any more, didn't give a damn what happened to her. Well, for what ever reason it was, she was regretting it. She tried to calm herself down, breathe slowly and steadily she'd only ever had two panic attacks before; one when Marcus was in hospital and the other when she was 10 and had fallen off her bike. This was different, she'd got herself into this situation.

Mali was abruptly shuffled out of the luxury car and into an rusty old looking abandoned building it seemed. She had no idea where she was and wondered to herself of it was about time she learned a bit more about the places in London. The two sleek men from the car pushed her through the doorway which continued to slam behind her leaving a large barrier between her and them. *If this is kidnapp, it's not exactly how I imagined it* Mali thought as her panic seemed to spiral out of control and she sunk down so she was balanced on her toes, back to the door with her head in her hands.

'Ah Mali, I've been waiting for you' came a voice from the darkness. 'Id like to offer you a proposition' said the voice without a body.

'Who..' Mali looked around failing to see anyone 'Who are you?' Mali chocked out trying to hold back the tears.

'Never mind that. I heard you were looking for a job' A man emerged from the darkness, like a ghost, he appeared to form right in front of her eyes, as if he'd been there the whole time but invisible. Mali knew that was impossible, but the way his voice had ricochet around the building had sent a shudder down her spine. He was tall, taller than her, not skinny but at the same time, not fat. In fact he had rather a strange appearance. He held an old fashioned umbrella in one hand, swinging it around and then learning on it as if he couldn't stand on his own and in the other hand he held some sort of book, a notebook. He had shortish mousy brown hair and his smile; if sarcasm could be drawn, that is what Mali would picture it like.

'Yes.' All Mali could do was whimper. She processed all these things in her head but physically couldn't bring herself to get up. She was totally and utterly unable to move.

'Do please get up off the floor Miss Evans and stop whimpering, despite your beliefs, I am definitely not some kind of .._kidnapper_ as you would put it.' said the tall man, leaning his umbrella against his leg and flicking through his notebook.

'H-how do you know me? What do you want?' despite the reassurance that this man was not a kidnapper, she still didn't trust him.

'I would be deeply interested to know of your relationship with Sherlock Holmes' came the reply.

'_r__elationship!_' Mali spat. 'I've only met the man three times and they were brief at that.'

'yet you seemed to have made a rather big impression on him, why, he's been sulking for the past week since you.._hit_ him.' His tone seemed to surprise Mali, it was one of concern yet disgust at the same time, as if she'd hit his baby brother or something.

'I-i' words failed Mali.

'I would be willing to offer you a job, and I very good Job at that as well as a very hansom sum of money on a monthly basis for _information _on Mr Holmes.'

'Why? Who are you? Why would you care?' Mali couldn't stop with the questions.

Who was this strange man and why was he so interested in Sherlock.

'If you were to ask him, he'd say enemies, maybe even arch enemies but the truth is I worry about him. Constantly.'

'I'll do it'

Mali would've done anything to get out of there before breaking down completely and figured she'd have a lot more hassle if she'd said no. That plus the fact that she _really_ needed a job if she wanted food to eat.

Despite this, the words she uttered next surprised her. She hated _spying_ on people and would never normally have agreed.

'yes, I'll do it.'

'you're very quick to agree Miss Evan' replied the man.

'yes, well that's me' Mali said trying her bet to get out of the situation she was in.

'perfect. I'll be in touch. You can go now. Lovely to meet you Mali' said the man as he turned around, swung his umbrella and wondered into the darkness again.

_I do love a bit of Mycroft_

_Please review_

_-Mais xo_


	4. Guilt conscience

Mali slammed the door behind her and sunk down to the floor. She sat there for a couple of minutes staring blankly, hardly blinking trying to regain her breath after running frantically from the car down to her flat. She walked shakily over to her kitchen sink in the dark and had to grip the counter for support while she poured herself a glass of water.

Mali had agreed to give information on Sherlock and in the end the man from out of the darkness had actually been quite kind. He seemed genuinely concerned about Sherlock yet he hadn't given away why but only wanted to know if he was eating properly and what work he was doing. Mali figured she'd have to get a bit closer to him in order to get what she needed. She was due to start her job next week but still didn't know what she would be doing. She did like the thought that she was going to be giving information away on someone who she hardly knew.

'Been somewhere?' Came a deep voice from the abyss. If possible, Mali would have jumped back 10 metres, her heart would've burst right out of her ribcage and her brain may have exploded. Her glass fell straight out of her hand and shattered into tiny pieces all jet he kitchen floor, luckily she was still wearing shoes. The voice sent such a shudder down her spine, that it seemed to continue and sent a shock through her whole body. The voice bore such a resemblance to that of the voice from the darkness she'd heard no less than 1 hour ago.

Mali wearily walked over and reached carefully for the light switch, unaware that she had been in the dark when she first entered her flat. She didn't know who was sat in her flat but she did know that she didn't like it.

The light flickered on and chased the darkness away from every corner of the kitchen. If took a few seconds for Mali's eyes to adjust. It was like opening the curtains in the morning to reveal the bright sun shining in but instead this revealed Sherlock at Mali's table sat with her laptop, closed, in front of him. His hands pressed together in his normal fashion with the tips of his first fingers gently pressed up against his bottom lip.

Mali let out a huge sigh but her legs still shook uncontrollably and she felt like she was going to collapse. Usually she would've been mad to find someone had broken into her flat but after what she'd been through today, it was a hell of a lot better than seeing a burglar or even worse, a murderer. Nevertheless Mali just couldn't handle it, as her eyes faltered, she thundered down to the ground with such force it would've made the strongest, toughest man wince.

Sherlock rolled his eyes. _people. So weak_. He took his time but he got up off Mali's sofa and walked over to Mali, careful of the glass on the floor. Luckily Mali had fallen backwards so she hadn't hit any of the glass, that would've left Sherlock in big trouble with John if she had. Sherlock lifted Mali up and then lay her down carefully on her sofa where he had just been sat.

Sherlock aggressively tapped some numbers into his phone. 'John, yes yes, I am phoning not texting, John please be quiet. Get down to Mali's flat would you, she fainted. No, No it wasn't my faul- well maybe.. Yes i did ok? Now get down here.' Sherlock ended the call before John had the chance to reply. Sherlock sat at the other end of Mali's sofa, opened her laptop again and started intently at the keyboard.

/

John looked down at his phone as it buzzed beside him. **Sherlock Calling. **John sighed before picking up. He'd been back for 2 hours and there had been no sign of Sherlock but then again that didn't surprise him as he often went out for a good 12 hours.

'Sherlock, is this you? You're actually calling?.. Wow this is new..oh god what have you done now?.. Oh god Sherlock, please don't tell me you broke into her flat while she was out, fine yes, be there-' Well at least they didn't have the 'no you hang up first' polava.

John rushed down to Mali's flat straight away. My _god what's he done now. He _found the door to 221c slightly ajar so he wondered in without knocking and when seeing Mali lying on the sofa, ran straight over to her.

'For heavens sake Sherlock you really need to stop letting yourself into people's homes when they don't answer your incessant knocking!' John couldn't see Sherlock but knew he was listening.

'Hardly my fault she wasn't answering.' The deep voice came from what John assumed was the bedroom.

'Sorry, let me rephrase, _breaking _into people's Homes.'

Sherlock emerged from the bedroom holding a sleek pink laptop and carrying an expression of deep thought and confusion. It wasn't a face John often saw Sherlock with. He typed something quickly but then frowned as the laptop beeped.

'Whats up with you?' John asked noticing that Sherlock had been pacing.

'Nothing, Nothing is_ up _why? Why would you ask that?' Sherlock queried looking around the room attempting to avoid eye contact with John. There was something wrong and John knew it.

'Sherlock you're pacing, and frowning, that usually means something is up' John said as-a-matter-of-fact.

Sherlock couldn't avoid it. 'Fine. I can't figure out her password John. . .out! Me!' he said dismissively but turning to look John straight in the eyes. If John wasn't used to it, the stare would've been the most patronising that most people had seen.

'so you're more worried that you can't guess her password than the fact that she's lying unconscious, not to mention, thanks to you!' John voice started to raise.

Sherlock could tell John was disappointed with him but he didn't care.

'You don't understand John! Me! I can't guess it. I've never got guessed anyone's password correctly!' Sherlock replied aggressively, bring up his hands and thrusting the laptop before Johns face.

John looked up and stared at Sherlock 'quick! Get the press on it 'The great Sherlock Holmes; dumbfounded by new tenants computer password.' nobody gives a shit Sherlock.' the pitch and sarcasm in Johns voice told Sherlock that he was angry with him as well as disappointed.

Sherlock stormed out of the basement flat placing the laptop on the kitchen table in a huff. Sherlock's long coat swung behind his gracefully as he left the flat and a few seconds later, John heard two doors slam almost simultaneously. Sherlock was obviously off to sulk in his bedroom for a while. John didn't expect to see him again till morning.

John wondered over to Mali's freezer to fetch some Ice to try to reduce the rather large bump Mali had acquired on her head. _God help sherlock._

She looked peaceful John thought. Calm. She'd looked so worried and stressed when he had last spoken to her. John prayed to god for her sake that she never got muddled up in any of Sherlocks cases. But as John would soon find out, it was inevitable. She would end up in one of Sherlocks cases one day. The pair of them were so different which was partly what intrigued Sherlock so much.

John, being a renowned medical man, unlike Sherlock, was compassionate and he couldn't just leave Mali by herself so he decided to stay until she came around. He hasn't often seen someone unconscious from fainting for so long so he imagined she must have been pretty frightened and stunned. He knew he wouldn't of liked it a years ago if he had turned on a light and found a strange man in his flat. Now though was a different story, now he considered it weird if there _wasn't _someone in their flat when he got home.

John must have dozed off for he was woken my a slight muttering from Mali. _must have come around but gone straight to sleep _John thought.

Mali was shivering and so before John left to go up to his own flat to get some proper sleep, he found some blankets and wrapped them around her but he couldn't help but hear what she was muttering. 'Marcus. No. No please' John decided to leave her be, he hated to intrude on something Mali probably didn't want anyone to hear.

_The air was cold as Mali walked over the cobblestones. She shivered as she realised she was only wearing a t shirt and leggings. The exact t shirt and leggings she'd worn just a day after Marcus' death._

_It was dark and Mali couldn't see where she was or where she was going but she was faintly aware that there were voices shouting in the distance but they were muffled and so she couldn't tell from what direction they came from. Suddenly they started to get stopped dead in her tracks, her warm breath creating mini clouds in the air in front of she knew that voice 'Marcus!' Mali tried to yelled but nothing came out of her mouth. She started to run as as she did she heard the words 'no Mali of course not. Why would you say that' but the voices were drifting off into the distance, faster than she could get there. 'please come back' she wept in the empty street 'please no' Mali sunk down to the cold hard cobblestones below her but was faintly aware that she was warming up slightly. The scene faded and Mali was left alone and frightened in complete darkness._

Mali sat bolt up in a cold sweat. Her skin hurt as if whenever she put the slightest amount of pressure on it, it felt as if someone was thumping her. She was shivering but was boiling at the same time. She looked around. Where was she. She couldn't see and it was pitch black. As Mali's eyes slowly started to adjust she recognised the comforting surrounding of her own flat and realised that she had just been dreaming. But it hadn't felt like that. It was so realistic, so vivid.

Mali shoved the blankets off her. The last thing she remembered was was entering her flat in a state of complete ruin. Something must have happened between then and now she thought as she reached up to shove her hair out of her face but was greatest by a huge lump on the back of her head. 'ow' she muttered.

Mali walked into her bathroom and figured a nice shower would do her good. When she looked down she realised she was still on her slightly too big pencil skirt and white blouse and suddenly the day before came flashing back to her, making her head hurt even more than it already did. She attempted to put that thought out of her mind while she carefully slipped into the shower, hoping to drown away the dream.

Sherlock lay face up on his bed in the darkness but with his eyes wide open processing what had happened that day and deleting anything of unimportance. As hard as he tried to get it out of his head, images of Mali frightened face kept flicking in and out of his mind. Why had she reacted so badly to seeing him? He wasn't that bad was he? And then there was her computer password. Why couldn't he figure it out? What could it possibly be to puzzle him so much? Sherlock had never had so many unanswered questions running though his mind at one time.

Whist lying there, Sherlock heard the faint buzz of the boiler and knew that Mali must have woken up. He would pay her a visit tomorrow. _must remember to knock _he thought to himself_ don't want a repeat of today _but he did need to speak with her, after all, he had many questions to ask her.

_ I already know what I want to do at the end of this fanfic woo just a case of getting there first, please review _

_-Mais xo_


	5. Apologies

Sherlock would have to do less legwork to get Mali to speak than he had imagined as the next morning saw Mali, still in her pyjamas, in 221B sat on Sherlocks favourite chair. He shot her an angry glance as he strode over to the kitchen wearing only his dressing gown, to which she didn't respond. Mali stared back but Sherlock couldn't help but notice the vacant look in her eyes, it was as if she wasn't looking at him but through him and he didn't like it.

/

There was a slight pattering on the door to 221B at 7:30 that morning, but John was up as usual, making himself a hot cup of tea. John had planned to check in on Mali that morning but as it seemed, that wasn't necessary. John welcomed in the worried looking girl and offered her a seat and a nice cup of tea.

She had looked awful. Huge bags under her eyes and her hair tied in a messy bun on the top of her head.

'John, id just like to thank you' said Mali taking a seat, she didn't feel well enough to stand up for too long. 'I guessed it was you who put the blankets over me last night seeing as it didn't seem like Sherlocks style' a small smile escaped her lips.

'Oh it's no problem, i hope you slept ok? You looked a little uncomfortable when I left.' John didn't try to hide his concern. He had heard Mali mumbling about Marcus but he didn't say, didn't want to invade her privacy.

'Oh no I slept fine thank you' Mali lied, not wanting the attention. 'Just had a slight headache.' She hated having people fuss over her. Probably why she didn't yet hate Sherlock. For she had plenty of reason too but actually liked the fact he didn't care about how she felt.

'Oh good, I'll get you some paracetamol for your head. You did hit it pretty hard.' John walked over to the kitchen cupboard to fetch Mali the pain relief while Mali sat slightly uncomfortable in her chair.

Mali tilted her head toward the kitchen and saw that their table was covered in science equipment and then the thought popped into her head; she didn't actually know what sherlock did for a living. She'd assumed it was something boring as john hadn't mentioned it but then she remembered the story of the head in the fridge and thought that it must be something science related. Just as Mali was processing this thought, Sherlock entered the room and shot her a dirty glance. She simply stared back at him.

'Sherlock i-' Mali started, wanting to make her apology before she had the chance to be a coward and stop herself.

'Nightmares Mali?' Sherlock asked turning and looking her in the eye. Mali couldn't help but notice he looked slightly angry but she didn't know why, she was there to apologise not cause havoc.

'How..?' She began to ask wanting to know how Sherlock could possible have figured that out, he couldn't have overheard her because she hadn't told anyone. But she was only to be cut off my Sherlock once again.

'Doesn't take a genius' Sherlock started, beginning to answer Mali's question. 'Although John hasn't noticed. Bags under your eyes suggest you didn't sleep to well even though you had the whole night to sleep. That plus the fact you're still a little bit shaky, could have been from fainting but not many people get that, no, nightmare is more likely. I heard the boiler go off at about 3 oclock so that would suggest you get up to have a shower after waking up in a cold sweat and wanting to get rid of the feeling. Am I right?'

'Yes.' Mali sucked in a deep breath, trying to retain herself from throwing another book at him. What he had said seemed so obvious. Mali could've been angry or upset but she wasn't because there it was again. He didn't care about her feelings and for that she was thankful.

'Thought so' Sherlock said under his breath walking into the kitchen and taking a seat seeing as someone else was occupying his.

Mali stood up to face him, talking hold of the back of the chair for stability to stop her collapsing in front of Sherlock again.

'I actually came to apologise Sherlock' came a quiet voice.

Sherlock looked up, intrigued. No one ever apologised to him, it just didn't happen.

'I apologise for throwing a book at you when you came down to my flat and I apologise for shouting at you for firing your own gun in your own flat and I apologise for what I did yesterday.' Mali spilled out very quickly and then looked down at the floor. She was slightly embarrassed and felt intimidated having both Sherlock and John staring at her in amazement.

John was dumbfounded. He had never heard anyone apologise to Sherlock. Ever. It was usually him trying to get Sherlock to say sorry to other people.

When no one said anything after her apology, Mali continued trying to break the awkward silence that had fallen. 'I was out of order an-'

Sherlock looked up from his microscope momentarily. _yesterday, what did she do yesterday, it was me who broke into her flat. _He looked closer at Mali, she was shaken up when she came into her flat but that was about as much as he could deduce, it frustrated him not knowing.

'Um yesterday?' John intruded, speaking Sherlock thoughts out loud. Sherlock was glad John had otherwise he would've had to ask and that would have made him look stupid.

Mali had some explaining to do.

'I went out yesterday as you already know' Mali started 'and I went looking for a job but it seems everyone is getting on fine just without me so I was sat slumped with my head in my hands when a sleek black car pulled over and the man told me to get in. By this point I had nothing to lose so I did. Anyway, the driver took me to this old abandoned building and shut the door behind me and this man emerged and told me that if I would spy on you and report back to him, he would give me a job and pay me handsomely on a monthly basis. And I was, like, having this huge panic attack so I agreed because I really wanted to get out.' Mali rattled out speaking quicker than she ever had, maybe hoping that John and Sherlock wouldn't register it however as she said it, a smile spread across Sherlock and Johns faces, much to Mali surprise. 'And well I thought we could split the money between us but then I thought, no, it's your privacy so I was going to go about and find this man and tell him I wouldn't do it but I don't actually know how to find him and I'm just really, really sorry' Mali was shaking, almost in tears. Sherlock let a small chuckle escape his lips. He was going to interrupt Mali but listening to her tell the story was far funnier.

'What?' a crease appeared between Mali's eye brows.

'Did he say he was Sherlocks arch enemy by any chance' John asked trying to turn down his smile that had spread across his face.

'yes.. How did you know, do you know him aswell John?' Mali said, utterly confused.

'Oh John knows him alright. You, Mali, have just had the pleasure of meeting Mr Mycroft Holmes, the older more concerned sibling.' Sherlock revealed to Mali. The look of surprise on her face made him chuckle even more.

It took Mali a moment to register what Sherlock had just said.

'Your brother?' Mali eyes widened in disbelief.

'Yes, my brother, he likes to know what I get up to and that I'm safe.'

'Why? My siblings never cared so much.' Mali's face stayed straight.

'Well, let's just say Mycroft is a little bit too caring. Anyway, I'm actually extremely impressed. Everyone else he's tried to get to spy on me has said no, including John here' Sherlock shot him a glance. 'So please, by all means, tell him what I'm getting up to, might make him a little less concerned.' He said giving the warmest smile he could manage.

'And what exactly do you get up to?'Mali queried as Sherlock's phone started to ring even thought it was still before 8am.

'Sherlock Holmes. Yes of course, how could I refuse.' He said, obviously in reply to the voice down the phone.

'Who was that?' John asked but he already knew the answer. Of course he did, who else would phone this early in the morning. John sighed, this was it, this was the inevitable. This was we're Mali started to join and get mixed up in Sherlock's work.

'Detective inspector Lestrade. Get dressed Mali, I think it's time you found out.'

John had hoped it would never happen that's why he hadn't mentioned it to her, but that was unrealistic. He could tell Mali would love Sherlock's work and would be intrigued just like he had been.

**_I know, short chapters suck but this one was more of a filler._**

**_As always, please review_**

**_-Mais xo_**


	6. Pink

_**Ok so i ****dont reall like quoting the show and after this there wont be a lot more, but sorry :( -Mais**_**_ x_o**

Mali, and Sherlock piled into the taxi whilst Sherlock said some directions to him.

John had excuse himself a while earlier to go and see Sarah so it was just Sherlock and Mali it seemed. Mali was slightly nervous of being left alone with Sherlock but she could hardly say no.

'Where are we going?'Mali asked

'Crime scene, obviously. Next'

Mali had figured out after meeting Sherlock twice that his favourite word was obviously, obviously.

'What do you do for a living?' Mali asked

'I'm a consulting detective' Sherlock said not bothering to look up from his phone.

'Never heard of it' Mali said frowning at him, was it possible to surprise her even more?

'You wouldn't, I invented the job' Sherlock rolled his eyes.

'So what exactly is a consulting detective?'

'It means when the police are out of their depth they consult me.' Sherlock answered.

'Right..' Mali still looked confused.

'Are you not going to say something like 'why would the police consult an amateur?'' Sherlock looked puzzled

'Um no? Why? Are you an amateur?' Mali mirrored Sherlocks expression.

'No, definitely not but that's what most people say.' his face straightened.

'I figure you must be pretty clever to be able to tell all those things about me so..plus I don't like to insult people, makes for a bad habit.' Mali smiled genuinely at Sherlock and he returned it.

They sat for the rest of the journey in silence but it wasn't uncomfortable. It seemed like they were generating a mutual respect for each other.

The pair them piled out of the taxi and strode towards the flashing lights that indicated the crime scene.

A woman was stood by the police tape and as Sherlock approached her expression turned to one of disgust.

'Hello freak' She spat.

'I'm here to see detective inspector Lestrade.' Sherlock said calmly, not rising to being called a freak.

'Why?' the woman quizzed.

Mali looked at the woman closely, she wasn't ugly but Mali wouldn't have said she was pretty either.

'I was invited' Sherlock threw back.

'Why?' _she has a very limited vocabulary_ Mali thought

'Think he wants me to take a look' Sherlock said walking under the barrier holding it up for Mali.

'Well you know what I think' The woman said impatiently.

'Always sally, even though you didn't make it home last night' Sherlock beckoned Mali under the tape.

'I don't- um who is this?' Sally said giving Mali and accusing glare.

'Colleague of mine' Sherlock said smiling at Mali.

'A colleague? How did you get a colleague?' She asked 'Did he follow you home?' this time she was directing her speech at Mali.

'Would it be better if I waited..' Mali asked, always the polite one who hated to cause dispute.

'No.' Sherlock said sternly. Well that was that.

'Freaks here, bringing him in.' Sally spoke down her radio as a tall, slimy looking man approached Sherlock with the same look of disgust that Sally had worn when she'd seen him.

'Ah Anderson, here we are again' Sherlock smiled at the man stood before him.

'Its a crime scene, I don't want it contaminated. Are we clear on that?' Anderson spoke, though he sounded like he had a cold Mali noted.

'Quite clear. And is your wife away for long?' Sherlock asked and Mali smiled, she knew what he was doing.

'Oh don't pretend you worked that out, someone told you.' Anderson said obviously trying to sound smart.

'Your deodorant told me that' Sherlock said as a matter of fact-ly.

'My deodorant?' The attempt at being smart had disappeared.

'It's for men' Sherlock said enthusiastically

'Well of course it's for men! I'm wearing it' Anderson said it was Mali imagined was his 'duh' voice.

'Yes and so is Sargent Donavon' Mali started to giggle, she assumed Sargent Donavan was Sally as Anderson gave him a look of pure hatred 'ooh and I think it just vaporised. May I go in?' Sherlock asked.

'Now, whatever youre implying..' Anderson started.

'I'm not implying anything, I'm sure sally came round for a nice little chat and just happened to stay over. And I assume she scrubbed your floors going by the state of her knees' Sherlock winked at Mali as they walked into the house.

Mali and Sherlock opened the door to the room in question and Mali felt a bit faint when she saw the woman dressed in an outfit entirely made up of pink lying face down on the floor. Her nails were also pink but the paint had been chipped where she'd scratched a message into the floor. 'Rache' Mali murmured, her brain automatically trying to gain as much information as she could gather from what she could see but ultimately, she didn't come up with much.

'Shut up' Sherlock said to Lestrade, a medium height middle aged man with Greying hair. He wasn't unattractive for his age Mali thought and a very nice man, the only one at the crime scene in fact who actually seemed to get along with Sherlock.

'I didn't say anyth-' Lestrade started to object.

'You were thinking, it's annoying.' Sherlock corrected him.

Sherlock spent the next few minutes examining the body of the pink lady and then stood up straight and started typing into his phone.

'Got anything?' the inspector asked after a few more seconds.

'Not much' Mali could tell he was lying. He had a lot more than he would let on.

'Shes German' Anderson interjected, standing in the doorway. 'Rache, German for revenge, she could be trying to tell us something' Anderson said in his smart arse tone.

'Yea thank you for your input' Sherlock said not looking up from his phone but taking one hand away to close the door in Anderson's face.

'So she's German then' Letrade said to Sherlock taking Anderson's work for it.

'Of course she's not' Sherlock corrected. 'She is from out of town though, intending to stay in London for one night before returning home to Cardiff. So far so obvious' Sherlock looked uninterested

'Obvious!?' The only thing Mali had managed to figure out was that she liked pink. A lot.

'Look Sherlock I need anything you've got' Lestrade looked slightly impatient.

'The victim was in her late 30s, professional person going by her clothes, i

Im guessing Media going by her frankly alarming shade of pink. Travelled to cardiff today intending to stay in London for one night we know that from the size of her suitcase' Sherlock revealed some of his deduction whist pointing to area's on the body but then went back to flicking through his phone.

'Suitcase?' Lestrade looked confused.

'Yes , she's been married 10 years but not happily. She had a string of lovers. It none of them knew she was married' Sherlock continued to ramble on but Mali had zoned out. She couldn't but help feel remorse for this woman. For her family, grieving after finding out she was dead. And she certainly didn't pity them, she'd been through enough in her life. But looking at this woman sparked something inside Mali. Something that she had always thought wasn't right but had never paid any attention to it. Something she knew was wrong. And she knew what it was. Marcus. When he'd died, they hadn't let her see his body, she thought it a bit strange but just assumed that it was formality in some hospitals. But being here now and thinking about how easily the Police had let her into this crime scene her mind started to wonder why. Mali was going deeper and deeper into thought when she was suddenly snapped out when she heard Sherlock raise his voice.

'Suitcase! Did anyone find a suitcase? Was there a suitcase in this house?'

'There was no suitcase!' Lestrade said for the 3rd time.

'They take the poison themselves, swallow the pills, there are clear signs even you lot couldn't miss' Sherlock looked as if he was finally interested in the case. 'It's murder. I don't know how. But they're not suicides they're serial killing. We've got a serial killer' Sherlock started to smile 'ooh I love those, always something to look forward to.'

'Why are you saying that?' Lestrade said sounding as if he was giving up on understanding.

'Her case! Come on! Where is her suitcase, did she eat it?' Mali smiled at that comment, Sherlock looked at her confused. He looked back 'Someone else was here and they took her case the killer must have driven here, forgot the case was in the car.'

'She could've checked into a hotel.' Mali offered some un needed help.

'No, she never got to the hotel look at her hair! She colour coordinates her shoes and her lipstick she would never leave a hotel with her hair lookin- oh! OH!' Sherlock moved backwards, hands lifting into the air as if he'd just had a eureka moment.

'What? What is it?' Lestrade asked

'Serial killers are always hard, have to wait for them to make a mistake' Sherlock laughed.

'We can't just wait!' Lestrade exclaimed.

Mali stayed silent still thinking.

'Oh we're done waiting, look at her, really look! Houston we have a mistake. Get onto Cardiff, find out who Jennifer Wilson's family and friends were-find Rachel!' Sherlock shouted as he ran down the winding stairs.

'Of course yeah, but Sherlock, what mistake?!' Lestrade demanded to know

'PINK!' And with that Sherlock ran down the rest of the stairs and disappeared out of the house, leaving Mali behind in the abandoned house.

'I'm sorry, Mali? Isn't it?' Lestrade voice sounded soft all of a sudden

'Yes, Mali' she smiled

'Sorry Mali but you're going to have to go, I'll take you down the road if you like, get you a taxi' he offered.

'Oh don't worry, I'll find my own way, you have work to do, but thank you anyway Sir' Mali smiled warmly at him.

'Please, call me Greg' He returned the smile. 'well, see you soon Mali'

Mali wondered slowly down the stairs Sherlock had rushed down just seconds ago. *how? how did he get all of that* She thought but then remembered what he had been able to tell her when they first met two weeks ago.

She walked out onto the road and was greeted by a seething Sargent Donavon. 'You're not his friend you know, he doesn't have friends so who are you?' Sally was undermining Mali seeing that she was weaker than her.

'I'm-I'm nobody, I just met him' Mali said not bothering to contradict her. He did have friends. He had John and Mrs Hudson, the landlady.

'Well, bit of advice from me, stay away from that guy' She was so spiteful. Mali already really disliked her and decided to challenge her.

'Why?'

'He's not paid or anything, he likes it. he gets off on it. The weirder the crime the more he gets off. And you know what? One day, just showing up won't be enough, one day we'll be standing around a body and Sherlock Holmes will be the one who put it there.' she explained

'Why would he do that?' Mali didn't like the fact that Donavon was slagging off her new neighbour.

'Because he's a psychopath and psychopaths get bored.'

Mali didn't want to listen anymore so she simply walked away, again, trying to avoid the argument.

It was only when she reached the end of the road that Mali realised she had no idea what to do and where Sherlock had gone. It was such a nice day that she thought it a shame to go home so she decided to go shopping. She hadn't bought anything new in ages.

As she browsed the hangers in the shops down Oxford street Mali noted how much she hated the hustle and bustle of the city. She longed to go back to the country and, she thought, when she made her fortune, She would. She was imagining a huge manor house with 10 acres of land and a stables to keep the horses and an astro turf to play hockey on and a nice lake with a boat where she and her husband could sit in the evenings.

'Ah Mali, we meet again' Came a voice from the other side of the rail. She looked up and saw Mycroft staring over at her.

'Why didn't you say that you were his brother?' she asked, not afraid of him this time.

'And I see you have started to accompany my dear brother on his cases? I shall make you a deal Miss Evans; you accompany my brother on more cases and keep me updated on how he is doing instead of working for me and I will up the monthly sum I shall pay you so you are quite comfortable in terms of finance.' Mycroft smiled at Mali.

She had to admit it was a good offer and it meant that she could carry on writing.

'That seems like a very appealing offer Mr Holmes and I would gladly take it up.'

Mycroft liked this girl. Nobody else had ever excepted but he could tell that despite excepting to spy on Sherlock, she cared about him and would look after him.

Mycroft accompanied Mali back to Baker Street, arm in arm the whole way chatting about childhood feuds between him and Sherlock. Mali liked Mycroft and sympathised with him over his concern for his brother.

Mali invited him in but he declined and made the excuse of having something of National Importance to deal with. _I wonder what he actually does_ Mali thought before closing the door to 221c.


	7. Rising Anger

Mali walked slowly over to her sofa and flomped down. As she relaxed her muscles and closed her eyes she realised just how tired she really was. It didn't take her long to drift into sleep .

_Mali walked down the cold cobbles in the street, the darkness surrounding her. She shivered violently but the scene soon faded to her sat in a hospital. She recognised the hospital all too well. The white sterile surroundings made her sick. It was where she had spent the worst few hours of her life. She was positioned where she could see Marcus. She stood there unable to move herself and turn away. She could see Marcus shake violently and then go still. A doctor came out of the room, sat took her away from where she had just been and delivered the bad news. 'I'm sorry, we couldn't have done anything, it was too late' she said. Mali began to sob 'no, no this isn't right. NO!' _

_'I'm ever so sorry, Miss Evans, Marcus has passed away'_

The scene faded again and Mali was in a restaurant where Marcus had taken her before he died. _Mali looked down at her watch, 20 minutes early. She smiled, she would order Marcus' favourite starter so when he got there he wouldn't have to wait but when Mali looked into the window, what she saw horrified her. It was Marcus; laughing and joking with another woman. Mali shrunk back and hid from view point, she was horrified, who was this woman? Mali quickly peered into the window again_. Mali's vision started to blur and she stared to be drawn back but not at her free will but she managed to get a glance in as she was being pulled back. _Marcus slid his hand over the woman's as he leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek._

Mali eyes shot open, she was breathing heavily and sweat dropped off her forehead. She closed her eyes again and began to slow her breathing. She couldn't get the imaged out of her head. She had remembered seeing them all before but this time was different. They weren't right. Well they were, but seeing them again made her think about them in another light. She remembered the nurse coming to deliver the bad news, Mali hadn't been paying much attention at the time, she was too distraught but remembering the dream, the nurse wasn't fazed by what she had said, if anything she looked guilty and that woman in the restaurant; Mali had questioned Marcus about it at the time and accused him of having an affair but she remembered his exact words 'no Mali, why would you say that?' He said she was his cousin and she was going through a tough time and needed cheering up but that wasn't friendship that she has seen in her dream. No, she didn't realise at the time because she was so blinded by her love for him. It made her believe anything he said. No. Something was wrong.

Mali's head started to hurt with all the thoughts running through at the same time. She glanced over at the phone she had placed on the table before drifting off. 8pm. _woah I've been asleep for hours, _Mali thought, as she got up to get herself a paracetamol for her head. Whilst getting up Mali heard a loud knocking at the very front door and some shouting coming from outside. Mali sighed. She then heard Mrs Hudson flailing and making a fuss over the people at the door followed by a stampede up the stairs to 221B. Mali thought she should go and check it out. She swallowed down the pills in her hand before pushing her hair out of her face and trudging up the stairs.

Mali pushed the door open to find people rummaging through every nook and cranny in 221b. Sherlock was nowhere was be seen. Mali glanced around and Grimaced when she saw Anderson and Sally in the flat. 'um what are you doing here' Mali asked when Lestrade emerged from one of the room, she assumed Sherlocks. 'it's a drugs bust.'

'What?A drugs bust?! Is Sherlock on drugs? Ooh is that the pink ladies case? Did you find it? Why is it here?' Mali asked intrigued as she noticed a bright pink suitcase flung open on table between the two chairs.

'Yes, well no, we found here, in this fla-' Leatrade started as Sherlock and John burst through the door to his flat.

'What are you doing?' Sherlock said accusingly.

'Well i knew you'd find the case, I'm not stupid'

'You can't just break into my flat!' Sherlock whined.

'You can't withhold evidence and anyway I didn't break in' Leatrade stated.

'Well what do you call this then!'

'it's a drugs bust!' Leatrade with a hint of glee in his voice.

'Oh for gods sake, Lestrade, you know full well Sherlock is clean!' John interluded.

'But is his flat?' came a question in reply.

'I don't even smoke' Sherlock sighed rolling up his sleeve to expose 3 nicotine patches.

Mali thought that that couldn't be healthy.

'Neither do I' Leatrade said in reply rolling up his own sleeve to show his own correctly dosed nicotine patch.

'And anyway I'm not your sniffer dog' Sherlock said.

'No, Anderson's my sniffer dog' Anderson appeared from in the kitchen, gave a sarcastic smile and waved.

'Anderson! What are you doing of a drugs bust!?'

'OhI volunteered' He grinned

'They all did. They're not, strictly speaking, on the drugs squad but they're very keen' Lestrade emphasised

'Are these human eyes!' Sally also appeared from the kitchen holding a bag on severed eyes.

Mali retched and she could see John felt the same.

'Put those back!' Sherlock ordered.

'They were in the microwave!' she protested

'It's an experiment' he claimed

'Keep looking guys. Or you could help us properly and I'll stand them down.' Letrade ordered walking back to the cluttered table.

'This is childish' Sherlock wrinkled up his nose. He was angry.

'I'm dealing with a child Sherlock, this is our case and I let you in but you don't go off on your own. Clear?'

'So you set up a pretend drugs bust to bully me?'

'Well yes' Leatrade said.

Mali stared to slide her way slyly toward the door. She felt uncomfortable just watching this confrontation.

'And where do you think you're going Mali? I told you I'd show you what I do and this is it, mostly arguing with the police.' He shot her a cheeky grin and a wink. Mali smiled back.

'Anyway, we found Rachel' Lestrade said, clearly embarrassed by his childish argument with Sherlock.

'Who is she?' Sherlock was interested again.

'Jennifer Wilson's only daughter.'

'Her daughter? Why would she write her daughters name? Why?'

'Never mind that! We've found the case! And according to someone, the case is with the murderer and we found it in the hands of our favourite psychopath.'

'I'm not a psychopath Anderson, I'm a high functioning sociopath, do your research'

John rolled his eyes

'You need to bring in Rachel so I can questions her.'

A civilian giving orders to the police? That was new to Mali.

'Shes dead'

'Excellent, how, when and why? Is there a connection there has to be' Sherlock span around in circles as if he couldn't contain his excitement.

'I doubt it seeing as she's been dead 14 years, technically she was never alive, Rachel was Jennifer Wilson's still born baby' Lestrade confirmed.

'No, no that's not right' Sherlock started but Mali had drifted off into one of her traces again. She thought about the pain that woman must have gone through 14 years ago when she lost her child. _no Mali, snap out of it, you need to stop fussing over other people and start caring about yourself for once in a while._

Mali looked up but the police were already filing out of the flat, Sherlock was nowhere to be seen. She wandered how long she had been in a trace for.

'Why did he have to do that, why did he have to leave?' Lestrade and a few others were left behind.

'You know him better than I do' John said sympathetically.

'I've known him 5 years and no I don't' Lestrade looked down.

'So why do you put up with him' Mali interrupted.

'Because i'm desperate, Mali and Sherlock Holmes is a great man, and maybe one day, if we're lucky he'll be a good one too' Lestrade said before bidding goodnight to Mali and John before leaving the flat with the last of the squad.

John walked over to his Laptop and pressed a few buttons.

'Sorry Um John, what happened? I sort of zoned out. I do that quite a lot'

'Well, we tracked the phone we figured Jennifer Wilson had planted on the Killer but the search said that it was here and then Sherlock just left, said he needed some air an then got in a taxi.'John shrugged as if this was all usual.

'A taxi!' Mali exclaimed.

'Yes, a taxi, why?'

'John I heard Sherlock he said it didn't he, something like 'who do we trust that we don't know, who passes unnoticed where ever they go, who hunts in a crowd! John have our answer; a cabbie!'

'Oh my god' John looked as if the breath had even drawn out of him 'quick, get some shoes, we're leaving' John grabbed the laptop and something from a draw that Mali didn't see before running off down the stairs, Mali in tow.

John hailed a cab as Mali shouted at him 'are you crazy! We just found out our murderer is a cabbie, and you're calling one!'

'Look Mali, it's the quickest way! Do you want to see Sherlock alive again?!' John stabbed back before climbing into the taxi.

/

Sherlock stared at the two pills across the table from him, both exactly the same in weight shape and size. There was nothing, nothing to tell him which was poisoned but he wouldn't let that show. No, never let your enemies see your faults.

'It's not a game, it's chance' Sherlock said trying to hide his confusion.

'Ive played four times, I'm alive, its not chance Mr Holmes it's chess. With one move and one survivor, and this..' the cabbie reached out and pushed one of the pill cases towards Sherlock, 'is the move.'

Sherlock smiled inside, he knew he wasn't going to die.

'You ready yet Mr Holmes? Ready to play' the cabbie teased.

'Play what?' Sherlock asked. 'it's a 50/50 chance'

'You're not playing numbers, you're playing ME!' the cabbie was getting impatient. He took a moment and composed himself. 'did I just give you the good pill or the bad pill?'

/

Mali and John waited anxiously in the cab. Mali was biting her lip, rather hard, John noticed, he could see she was worried to he reached forward and grabbed her hand in comfort. She gave him a warm, grateful smile in return. It was looking at her now that John realised just how beautiful she was. Her light blond hair was falling down around her face messily, but not in a bad way, it suited her, and her eyes were the deepest brown he'd seen yet they still seemed to sparkle like the stars.

/

'Not much money in serial killing' Sherlock mused.

'Oh you'd be surprised' the cabbie smiled back at Sherlock.

Sherlock didn't like it. It wasn't like he felt patronised but it was the fact that someone would attempt to get him to take his own life. What sort of idiot believed they could outwit him._ oh god _Sherlock thought as the cabbie replied

'Surprise me.' Sherlock said leaning back on his chair sighing. He was clearly getting bored now.

'I have a sponsor'

'You have a what?' Sherlock looked up at the cabbie leaning forward once again.

/

John and Mali rushed to the front of the building after John had thrown a wad of cash at the driver not having time to pay a definitive amount. They looked up in front of them. Two buildings.

'Split up?' the pair said at the exact same time before rushing off once again into separate buildings. 'be careful' John had shouted at her.

/

'And what if I don't choose, what if I just walk out of here'

'You could take a 50/50 chance' The cabbie said, reaching into his pocket. 'or I could just shoot you in the head' he said calmly pulling out a gun. 'funnily enough, noone ever chose that option.'

Sherlock had to resist the urge for a huge smile to spread across his face. This man was a real idiot.

'The gun please.' Sherlock looked him right in the eyes.

'Are you sure?' He started to faulter.

'Definitely. The gun.' Sherlock beamed finally giving in the urge to smile.

/

Mali peered through every window in every door of the bloody building, she was about to give up hope until she peered through door 6B1 and what she saw could've stopped her heart. An old man who looked harmless enough, but it wasn't that that scared her, it was the fact he was holding a gun, right at Sherlocks head. Mali started to breath quicker but she knew what she had to do. What was her ruin of a life compared to his. If she could save Sherlocks life then it was worth the risk.

Mali didn't have any more time for thinking as she burst through the door running straight up the the harmless looking old man. He turned to her and looked surprised. He let down his guard with the surprise she bought and that gave her her opportunity. She continued running at him, stopped just before and head butted him right on the soft part of his nose with her forehead, or she thought she had. 'ow' Mali muttered before keeling over and landing on the floor with a loud thud for the second time in two days.

'What a pretty little girl' said the cabbie looking down at Mali, lying on the floor in her unsuccessful attempt to save Sherlock.

'Don't you dare lay a finger on her.' Sherlock warned in a slow but dangerous voice.

An anger had risen inside him that he hadn't felt before and it confused him but whatever it was causing such extreme emotion he wasn't going to let it faze him.

'Oh i see..Choose a pill and your pretty little..companion, here, won't get hurt' This Cabbie was a complete bastard but Sherlock couldn't and wouldn't let Mali get hurt so without a choice, he swept up one of the jars on the table, unscrewed the lid and held the pill up. The cabbie mirrored Sherlock's action but with the pill he had left behind. 'and together we take our medicine' said the cabbie.

Sherlock's heart was beating. And fast. But he had to do it. To save Mali. And anyway, there was a chance he would survive this. Just as he lifted the pill up to his mouth a bullet fired through the window and straight into the shoulder of the cabbie, flinging him back across the room, causing him to drop the pill.

Sherlock was shocked. Who had done that? Why had they done that? How had they done that? He ran over to the window to look thought the bullet hole but could see nothing. So he paced back over to the cabbie to get information from him.

The cabbie squirmed on the ground, blood pouring uncontrollably through his wound.

'Was I right? I wasn't wasn't i! Was I right?!' Sherlock raised his voice but without luck, he threw the pill down at the cabbie in anger. A new idea popped into his head. He placed his foot per the shoulder of the wounded man and started to apply pressure.'you're dying but there's still time to hurt you' He wasn't normally like this but then again, this was a normal situation. Sherlock pressed his foot down a little harder seeing the man wriggle in pain below him. 'Give me a name! A name! Now! The name' Sherlock shouted, increasing the pressure with every new word that left his mouth.

'MORIARTY' the dying man shouted in absolute agony before the breath left his body and his muscles all went limp.

Sherlock rushed over to Mali and cradled her head in his hands. This was his fault.

'Moriarty, Moriarty, Moriarty' Sherlock muttered over and over. Why had he never heard of this person? This thing? This organisation?

'Whats Moriarty?' Mali asked groggily attempting to open her eyes.

'Mali' Sherlock scoffed in relief.

'Are you ok now?' She asked 'where's that man, the old one, with the gun.'

'I am now that you're awake! And don't worry, he's been taken care of.' Sherlock Smiled down at her, removing the stands of hair on her face.

'Are you hurt?' Mali asked wearily.

'No but you evidently are' Sherlock's smile faded. 'You're supposed to hit them in the soft part of the nose with the hard part of your forehead, not the other way around' he chuckled after seeing Mali smile.

'Well, it's difficult being perfect all of the time' Mali joked as he sat laughing in nervous hysteria with Sherlock cradling her head until the police burst in to take them away.

**Sorry about the quoting of the show and the lack of full stops at the end of sentences, I wrote this on my phone so sorry for any other spelling mistakes too.**

**Thank you for the reviews, made me smile :') updates may be getting slower as I'm quite busy but will try to update twice a week at least.**

**-Mais xo**


	8. Abandoned Cars

_**Ok so I'm going to take one of the cases from the great game as just one case because its gunna help me bring a resolution to Mali's dreams sometime soon. And sorry for quoting the show again:(**_

It had been two weeks since Mali had knocked herself out trying to save Sherlocks life. Now she came to think of it, he never actually said thank you for trying, but then she thought he wasn't really the one for politeness and so she didn't really mind. But things had started to look up for Mali recently. She'd managed to get a part time job at a local Waterstone's book shop, she's started to feel better, started to put on the huge amounts if weight she'd lost after being depressed and she'd even accompanied Sherlock in 3 more of his cases though they were a little more event less than the first. She was happy again, yet she still had the dreams and they always consisted of things or places her and Marcus had seen or been to and each time, Mali noticed new things about the situations, weird things that weren't quite right.

'WAKE UP' Mali eyes shot open as the duvet covering her flew off. Mali would've jumped 10 feet high if possible. Looming above looking 3 metres tall and leaning over her was Sherlock and it was only after she saw him did she realise that he was still holding her duvet and she wasn't actually wearing any pyjama bottoms. Despite all dignity being lost when she knocked herself out in front of him, she wasn't one who liked to strut about in her underwear. 'umm, could you, um can I please have my duvet back' Sherlock was still staring at her making her uncomfortable.

'Oh, yes of course' Sherlock suddenly smiled and realised as if he'd been in some sort of trance.

Mali was pulling the duvet back over her when John walked into her room as well.

'For gods sake Sherlock, you could at least have knocked on the door and let the poor girl get dressed first!' John have a disapproving look toward Sherlock.

'No time for that! Mali, new case, you're coming.' Sherlock told her.

'Ugh' Mali murmured before pulling the duvet over her face but consequently having it pulled back again by Sherlock 'Come on! If you want to keep my brother happy, which i would if i were you, I suggest you come with us.' He was starting to get impatient.

'What time it it?' Mali's voice was slurred as he face was pressed against the pillow.' _haven't had my 8 hours yet_ she thought.

'Time to get up' Sherlock responded unhelpfully.

'Severn thirty..four to be exact.' John said in answer to her question, noticing how un helpful Sherlock was being.

'Jesus, why are you up so early?' she moaned

'It's not early, you're sleeping late' Sherlock corrected.

'Ugh give me 10 minutes and I'll be ready and if you want me in a good mood, you better make me breakfast' Mali started to push her duvet away 'And that means _leave _my room.' She stared Sherlock in the eyes. John sighed and left followed by Sherlock a few seconds later.

'John, what do people usually eat for breakfast?' Sherlock asked padding into the kitchen after him.

'Um toast, cereal?' John replied.

'Right, toast, ok' Sherlock said spinning around the kitchen looking for bread.

_ He looks like an idiot. _John stifled a laugh.

10 minutes later and Mali's kitchen stank of burnt toast and the fire alarm started to bleep away. She rushed out of her bedroom half dressed pulling on a t shirt over her bra. 'WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?' she screamed over the wail of the alarm. She looked around and saw Sherlock not bothered by the alarm and burning but rather more interested in her laptop which she'd left on her table last night. John had been seated on Mali's sofa until the alarm went off, he thought it was rather amusing how Sherlock was struggling to make toast but as soon as the alarm sounded, he had rushed up and was now flapping around a t-towel in front of the alarm.

Sherlock was so immersed in trying to figure out Mali's password that he's lost track of time and hadn't heard Mali's rather loud shout.

'Sherlock! You didn't answer my question?!' Mali started impatiently.

'Sorry what?' Sherlock blinked and looked up at her. She stared at him and he looked around 'ooh, the alarm, yes, your toast must have burnt' He shrugged.

'Oh I give up.' Mali turned away and walked over to John as he managed to turn the alarm off. Mali turned back for a second. 'Um how did you even get into my flat in the first place? I locked that door last night, I know I did.' a frown crossed her eyebrows.

'Um well, I may have, possibly um-'

'Basically, what he is trying to say is that he picked the look on your front door' John said bluntly giving Sherlock a rather disapproving look.

Mali wondered how long Sherlock and John had lived together, and how John put up with it. They acted like an old married couple but John had confirmed that they weren't gay so maybe he acted as mother to an annoying little boy. Nevertheless, it can't have been that long because she was pretty sure that after a while, John would give up on Sherlock and his annoying habits would drive him to the limit. Mali couldn't imagine living in the same flat as Sherlock, it was bad enough living downstairs from him. The gun firing in the night, the breaking into her flat, him trying to guess her laptop password. She could even begin to contemplate what John had to put up with.

The cover to Mali's laptop slapped down. 'Right, we're leaving' Sherlock exclaimed abruptly standing up.

'What about my breakfast?' Mali asked

'No time!' he sang

'Well there would have been if you'd bothered to make me some without _burning _it.

Sherlock ignored that comment and continued to put his coat and scarf on and waltz out the door. Mali grabbed an apple and a Muesli bar before running after him and slamming the door behind John.

'Soo where this time?' Mali asked in the cab biting a chunk out of her apple. She was mad at Sherlock for breaking into her flat and storming into her room but he wouldn't realise so there was no point in showing it.

'Abandoned building site in east London, car's been found with blood splattered all over the front seat but no body has been found and Scotland yard are yet again out of their depth.' Sherlock didn't look up from his phone.

'You really love yourself don't you' Mali tilted her head at him and John let out a laugh.

Sherlocks head spun upwards and he frowned but sensing it was a non repliable statement he returned to whatever he was doing on his phone. Mali and John smiled at each other. Mali actually really enjoyed winding Sherlock up and John liked having her around because she was the only one who could actually get underneath Sherlocks skin and annoy him.

Sherlock glanced up at Mali slyly without her noticing. Why? Why did he get that feeling when Mali insulted him. Why was she the only one that could make him feel anything. He didn't wonder along that thought for very long and was soon back to thinking about the case.

/

'The car was hired yesterday morning by an Ian Monkford. Banker of some kind; City boy. Paid in cash.'

Sherlock ignored Leatrade but looked closely as the four passed a short woman with brown hair crying but attempting to talking with a police officer.

'Told his wife he was going away on a business trip, but he never arrived.' Lestrade said to Sherlock as the three walked off to the car.

'You're still hanging round him then Mali?' Sally said in a somewhat judgemental tone as she approached Mali.

'Yes, I am.' Mali really didn't want to talk to her. 'But that's none of your business' Mali challenged, raising her voice a tad. She was fed up of Sally saying bad things about Sherlock because despite how annoying he was, he was behind it all, a brilliant man and she also believed he could be caring as well.

'Well, I warned you' Sally said.

'Yes, you did sally but I don't give two shits what you say' Mali's tone of voice caused everyone to turn and look at the pair of arguing girls. Even sherlock.

'Hey! Watch your language miss' Sally warned

'Oh I will, once to stop attempting to patronise everyone' Mali gave a sarcastic smile before walking over to Sherlock.

Sherlock couldn't help but be proud of Mali and as she walked over he smiled at her and playfully punched her lightly on the arm before bending down and whispering so no one could hear. 'Way to go Mali.' and gave her a light kiss on the cheek. Despite believing he could be caring Mali was astonished he would show any sort of affection in public and she couldn't help but be a bit flattered really.

Lestrade felt a tiny bit uncomfortable standing next to the pair so decided to break the awkwardness.

'Before you ask, yes, it's Monkford's blood. The DNA checks out.'

Sherlock leaned into the car and shuffled around the glove compartment until he found a business card labelled 'Janus Cars'

'Get a sample sent to the lab' He ordered and then continued to walk over to the short woman with brown hair who they had seen earlier.

'Mrs Monkford?' She turned to him tearfully.

'Yes.'

John looked at Sherlock and sighed, obvious to what he was going to do but Mali just watched carefully, unaware.

'Sorry, but I've already spoken with two policemen.' Mrs Monkford said tearfully

'No, we're not from the police; we're ...' Sherlock held out his hand for Mrs Monkford and started to put on a teary voice. 'Sherlock Holmes. Very old friend of your husband's. We, um ...'

Sherlock pretended to try to hold back the tears as he shook her hand 'we grew up together.'

'I'm sorry, who? I don't think he ever mentioned you.' Mrs Monkford said slightly confused. Mali couldn't help but realise the similarities of Sherlocks acting and Mrs Monkfords actual crying.

'He must have done. This is ... this is horrible, isn't it?'

John had to look away, trying somewhat unsuccessfully to keep his face neutral and Mali slipped her hand into Sherlock to pretend to comfort him, after all, she looked a bit out of place. Sherlock was surprised by Mali's action but couldn't look at her and break his act.

'I mean, I just can't believe it. I only saw him the other day. Same old Ian – not a care in the world.' He smiled tearfully at her.

'Sorry, but my husband has been depressed for months. Who are you?' Mrs Monkford questioned.

'Really strange that he hired a car. Why would he do that? It's a bit suspicious, isn't it?' Sherlock had tears running down his cheeks by now. _wow how does he do that. _Mali thought looking up at Sherlock with wide eyes.

'No, it isn't. He forgot to renew the tax on the car, that's all.' She corrected

'Oh, well, that was Ian! That was Ian all over!' He exclaimed

'No it wasn't!' She corrected once again.

Suddenly Sherlock dropped his fake persona said 'Oh, wasn't it? Interesting.' Sherlock realised that Mali hadn't let go of his hand yet and he didn't mind which was strange. He was so used to pushing people away that they rarely ever showed him any comfort. Sherlock noticed that John was giving him and Mali a questioning stare and so he abruptly dropped her hand and walked off toward the car again. John just looked in disbelief and Mali thought nothing of it.

'Why did you lie to her?' Mali questioned running after him unaware of Sherlock motives.

'People don't like telling you things but they love to contradict you. Past tense, did you notice?'

'Sorry, what? John asked.

Sherlock sighed realising that John and Mali hadn't caught on 'I referred to her husband in the past tense. She joined in. Bit premature – they've only just found the car'

'So you think she murdered her husband?' He raised his eyebrows.

'Definitely not. That's not a mistake a murderer would make.'

'I see.' Mali said attempted to sound intelligent but giving up 'wait no..No, I don't. What am I seeing?' giving totally up on clever.

'Where now?' John asked as Sherlock walked off up the road.

'Janus Cars.' Sherlock said holding out the business card he had acquired from the glove compartment of the abandoned car for John and Mali to see.


End file.
